A Promise Kept
by glockcourage
Summary: Summary: Shikamaru seeks the truth about his dream girl or rather dream woman...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto.

**A Promise Kept**

**Chapter 1**

A beautiful woman with blonde, shoulder length hair and green eyes, wearing a black yukata with red obi, always appeared on the man's dream for the last three months.

And even if a handful of female acquaintances had come up with their courage and admitted to him that they find him good looking, the man ignored them. He was obsessed with the woman that visited him every night.

The man, a feeling of wanting to share his visions with someone, had told his friends about his dreams but Lee just beamed meaningfully and Naruto became loud and joked that he was losing his mind for thinking too much.

Changes gradually started to happen. The man pushed by his dreams had his long blackish hair reaching almost to his waist cut up to about his shoulders and then he tied it in a high ponytail. He then had his ears pierced so he could sports a stud on each ear.

Looking at the mirror, he saw what he wanted to see, his new image reflected. A lean man with shoulders slouched and eyes piercing despite being small.

The man who called himself Shikamaru allowed the woman in his dream to taunt him. And each night Shikamaru would extend his hand towards the woman but always it was only air that he grasped, the sensation would then wake him up.

One day as he was about to cross the street waiting for the green light, Shikamaru saw a girl on the other side of the four lane road. The girl with four pigtails attracted his attention as she turned her head and he was able to see her profile. Shikamaru ran to catch up with her but she was able to board the bus before he was able to reach her. Shikamaru followed the bus with his eyes. It was too late now and probably it was just wishful thinking that made him see the woman in his dreams in that girl.

However, that night, for the first time in three months, Shikamaru had his sleep undisturbed by any dream.

Shikamaru stirred, feeling that something was missing. That day Shikamaru went to the area where he caught an image of the girl but he never spotted her. Then after five days of waiting he was able to get a glimpse her.

"Hey mister, quit your staring. You give me the creeps," the girl muttered after noticing that a man just stood there gazing at her.

"Sorry, it's just that you look just like her," Shikamaru replied.

"Listen old man, your pick up line sucks. Are you into that kind of thing 'cause if you are, I'm gonna call the police," the girl threatened.

"Tch, you even sound like her." Shikamaru shrugged. "Do you have, by any chance, an older sister?"

"Even if I have an older sister, what is it to you? Now, go away before I call the police." The girl has now placed her hands on her hips, tilted her head and glared.

"Temari said that she likes folding fans. That she collects them. But it's a secret she doesn't want her friends to know about since it will make her look too girly."

"How—how did you know my name? Are you stalking me? Pervert!" The girl did not run but instead she kicked Shikamaru on the shin and she even used her bag to hit him anywhere she could reach "Pervert! Hentai! Dirty old man!"

"Hey! Stop it! I didn't know your name is Temari! And I'm not stalking you!" Shikamaru tried to shield his body with his forearms but the girl was tall for her age and very aggressive. " Hey, I said cut it out."

"If you're not stalking me how do you explain the fact that you know I like fans," the girl called Temari demanded.

"You—you like fans. You collect them?" Shikamaru asked wonderingly. The woman in his dreams resembled the girl. They even had the same pitch of voice and in a way they acted the same. But it couldn't be? This girl looked about twelve, atleast about thirteen years younger than him and probably sixteen years younger than the woman in his dream. But how would you explain the fact that ever since he saw the girl, the woman had stopped visiting his dreams?

"Don't pretend that you don't know, asshole!" Temari spat.

"Listen, I don't—" Shikamaru was not able to finish what he was trying to say. A man in a blue uniform approached them.

"Is there a problem here, Miss?" the policeman inquired. "Someone, told me that you—" the policeman indicated Temari, "hit this guy?" He then pointed towards Shikamaru.

"Yeah, this man is stalking me!" the girl answered vehemently.

"Is this true, sir?"

"I—no. Our dad said that my sister run away. She obviously doesn't want to go home yet. I'm just trying to convince her," Shikamaru explained with a straight face.

"That's not true, officer! I don't know this person!" Temari contradicted, voice aghast.

"Sir, of course she would deny knowing her big brother but you can ask me anything about her and I could probably answer it."

"Oh my God, you really are a stalker!"

The police officer looked from one to the other, wondering who to believe. "Alright, let's see some ID."

"Why should I show you my ID? I didn't do anything wrong," Temari protested.

Shikamaru smirked. "Here, officer," Shikamaru said as he gave his ID.

"Ma'am?" The officer outstretched his hand towards Temari, asking for her identification card.

"Ok, fine. I didn't bring my ID."

The policeman returned his hand at his side then stared meaningfully at the glowering girl before glancing at the calm man. "Sorry sir. I would let you proceed at convincing your sister."

"Thank you, officer." Shikamaru grinned and saluted.

"Just doing my job. Ma'am, nothing good happens to people that ran away."

"But officer, _he is_ _not_ _my brother,_" Temari reiterated through clenched teeth. The police just clucked his tongue and walked away.

Temari looked angrily at the man. He has weird blank eyes. "YOU! You're really a pervert, aren't you?"

"I'm not!"

"Then shoo!" Temari waved her hand in the universal go away sign.

"Listen. Aren't you curious how I learned your name?"

"No." Temari crossed her arms on her chest.

"You like watching plants grow." Shikamaru stated, then seeing Temari about to turn around to leave, he mumbled, "And you hate your father."

"How did you know that? I—I've never told anyone about my feelings towards my father? And come to think of it how did you know I run away from home?"

"You would not believe this but you told me. You said when you were 12 years old, you ran away from home."

"Why the hell would I tell you that? I don't even know you."

"Bring your voice down. People are staring."

"I don't care. What you're telling me is preposterous. You must be mental. I—"

"Shut up. You used to visit me every night in my sleep. In my dreams, we just sit together on some hill, sometimes we talk but most of the time, we argue. Sometimes, you tell me things that are important. Sometimes, I tell you things I don't even tell my closest friends," Shikamaru explained.

Temari shook her head and retorted, "You're sick!"

"I'm not sick! I'm not losing my mind. For the past three months I only dream of you. And everytime I wake up, I remember everything with clarity. I don't know why or how but somehow we are connected."

"No, we are not connected at all! And I mean it, stay away from me," Temari warned, a flicker of fear passing through her eyes. She turned away and started walking. She was supposed to wait for the bus but today they were more than fifteen minutes late already. She couldn't afford a taxi. She was just going to start walking; hoping the man would stop following her but the man was persistent.

"Then since I saw you five days ago, I don't see you anymore. I mean the you in my dream. It made me wonder that's why I tried to find you." Shikamaru still attempted to convince her to believe him. "Look, you even admit you did not tell anyone about the way you feel about your father."

"Stop following me!" Temari shrieked. "You have a lucky guess that's all."

"How about the other things? How did I know that?"

"You probably followed me around, gathering information or you just made a good guess. No big deal. Now, go away or I'll scream bloody murder!"

"I'm sorry if I scared you...but...your age, it's all wrong. You're supposed to be older than me. Not way younger."

"God, you're really sick." Temari walked faster then she sprinted to a run.

"Wait!" Shikamaru started to follow and realized that he was just going to frighten her farther.

Temari didn't stop running until she reached the side of some building and hid herself. She sneaked a quick look over the corner of the wall to verify if she lost the man following her. She exhaled her breath and unclenched her hand holding her bag. "God, that was close," she murmured to herself.

That day, Temari went home. She might hate her father but she knew she would miss her brothers. And she had a real scare...

The next day, Shikamaru met Lee. They were supposed to hang out together with Naruto but Naruto said he was unavailable since he was going to coach a baseball team. Shikamaru then relayed to Lee what happened with the mysterious girl but Lee, perplexed, asked why did he pretend to be the girl's brother and why did he inform the police, she run away. Shikamaru tried to come up with an answer but couldn't. He remembered everything before but now he felt like he forgot something. _Did she really run away from home?_

That night the Temari of his dreams appeared again but she aged a bit. She was still beautiful but she could be from anything thirty to forty years old.

"What's up, lazy?" Temari asked.

"What? Why? I—thought you've gone?" Shikamaru asked.

"Why? Do you want me to go?" Temari playfully asked.

"I—no. Stay."

"I think I will," Temari answered with a smile. There was a long pause during which Shikamaru stole surreptitious glances.

"Where have you been?" Shikamaru asked next.

"Why? Did you miss me?" Temari teased.

"Yes," Shikamaru admitted nonchalantly. "And you have been gone for just five nights but it seems like you've been gone far longer than that."

"Oh, you mean I look older?" Temari touched both her cheeks slowly as a mysterious grin appeared. "Well, you must have done something right while I'm gone."

"What do you mean?"

Temari just continued grinning mysteriously. Shikamaru tried to touch her but it only caused her to vanish. Shikamaru subsequently woke up then.

But it did not matter. For the next several nights Temari still haunted his dreams. This time Temari divulged more about her family, about her younger brother who was being recruited by an Akatsuki gang. Her brother Gaara continued to say no to the gang which caused the attacked on him. Gaara fought back. He was injured badly and the police had to kill one of the Akatsuki gang members to be able to save him.

"You only talked about your family, your father and your brothers. What about that special man in your life?" Shikamaru asked one night.

"I thought that was you," Temari replied.

"I thought it was me too but you never included me in your stories. I was never a part of your life when you were alive, wasn't I?"

"What do you mean, Shikamaru? Are you implying I'm dead?" Temari muttered with a frown marring her forehead.

"That's the only explanation I could come up to explain what is happening now."

"You're wrong Shikamaru, at this time, I'm not dead," Temari replied softly. "And you did play a big role in my life and my kid brother liked you."

TBC

-o0o-

~10-31.11-2 10AF~

A/N: R and R ~it means _Read and Review_ and not _Read and Run _okay :D ~


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Naruto still appeared to be busy with his baseball coaching. Lee and Shikamaru then decided to visit him in the field since they wanted to check how he was doing with his team.

When Shikaamaru and Lee arrived, they were in luck for a game was still in progress.

After a while, Lee, who was watching the match, cried suddenly, "Oh wow! That kid is good!" Lee then boomed towards the field, "That's the power of youth!"

Shikamaru whose eyes were wondering around his surroundings and not concentrating on the game, had to ask, "Who?"

"There, see that one with the red hair." Lee excitedly pointed to the batter.

"Yeah." Shikamaru saw a boy that was a bit shorter than the other nine or ten year old players. Probably that kid had to make it up to it by playing better or he'd be bullied because of his height.

"The kid's good. Now, I understand why Naruto is serious about this game. He probably notice too the amazing power of youth. With that kid on their team, they are gonna win."

"Tch," Shikamaru sounded puzzled. "Is there a reason for Naruto not to be serious about this kind of things?"

Lee answered with a frown, "You know Naruto seldom appears this serious." Lee placed his hands on his hips as he announced, "He is the king of pranksters and calls me bushy brows while he calls you N—"

"Come on we better wait comfortably there." Shikamaru abruptly pointed towards a patch of grass which was shaded by a tree, interrupting Lee.

"Ei? Aren't you gonna watch?"

Shikamaru shook his head.

"I'll watch the game from here. You probably have to catch up on your sleep..." Lee curiously scrutinized his friend. Ever since their other childhood friend Tenten moved away to another city, the dark haired genius had been acting strange. Nah, it was just coincidence.

—o0o—

After about an hour, a blonde man wearing an orange jumpsuit approached the dark haired young man lying on the grass.

"Hey, wake up," Naruto called, pouting, "You used to observe everything, tucking it inside that big brain of yours."

"What?" Shikamaru rubbed the sleep off his eyes before glancing up at Naruto.

"You missed the game," Naruto complained but continued enthusiastically, "It was great. We're going to win the championship this year, I'm sure!"

"Sure," Shikamaru parroted, dusting off his pants and his back. He yawned before asking, "Where is Lee?"

"There." Naruto pointed to Lee near the field talking energetically to the red headed boy holding a bat. "He's talking to Gaara."

"What did you say?" Shikamaru was shocked. _It couldn't be Gaara, Temari's brother, could it?_ "I—I'm going to meet him too."

"Huh?" Naruto was going to follow Shikamaru but he was waylaid by two boys—one was blonde and the other had also red hair.

"Coach, you know I'm a good pitcher. You can't take me off the team," argued the ten-year old red haired one.

"Sasori, you know the rules. No fighting but you still did it anyway." Naruto tried to sound stern but he was failing miserably.

"Coach, if you take me off the team, I'll never forgive you! I will join a gang and I will beat everyone after." Sasori calmly announced to threaten his coach, adding a cold stare to intimidate Naruto. "I will start with you star player and anyone who is close to him."

"Tch, troublesome." Shikamaru, who had taken several steps towards Lee and Gaara, overheard the argument between Naruto and his ex-pitcher. Shikamaru turned back to address his blonde peer, "Naruto, I remember you are a great teacher. I never told you but I admired you growing up. I believe you have the power to convince kids to change even when other people have given up hope on them. Why don't you use that power to talk to this brat?"

"Who are you?" the other kid asked, his blonde bangs didn't cover the scowl he directed towards Shikamaru.

While the red haired kid just looked at the dark hair man dispassionately and then ordered, "Let's go, Deidara!"

"But Sasori," the other kid snivelled.

Sasori just pivoted around leaving his friend.

Deidara smiled evilly at the adults before he followed his friend.

Naruto hollered, "Wait!" to the two boys. The two boys then stopped and turned around. Naruto jogged to where they were.

Shikamaru went to the field and met Gaara. He didn't know why but before he thought he felt an urgency to meet the boy. Now, he was asking himself, what was so important that he must speak to Gaara right away? The answer eluded him.

That night, Temari visited him in his sleep but this time she appeared somewhere in her seventies.

"Wh—what happened Temari?" Shikamaru asked, unable to hide his panic. "I just saw you last night. You couldn't have aged that fast. Unlike the first, I did not see you for five nights. I—"

"Shh." Temari placed her index finger on her lips. "It's alright, Shikamaru."

"No, it's not alright. What's next, you're going to be ninety and then what? I won't see you again?" Shikamaru tried to catch his breath. "I won't see you again, aren't I?"

"There won't be a next time, Shikamaru. I shouldn't have visited you like this but I just discovered what you did and I wanted to thank you," Temari admitted, trying to form a smile.

"What do you mean no more next time?" Shikamaru frowned. "And why the hell are you thanking me?"

"For keeping your promise that you will save me."

"What do you mean? How did I save you?" Shikamaru queried, confused. The feeling that there were gaping holes in his life became undeniable. Somehow his memories were fading away, some already felt like they weren't there in the first place and some unrecognizable, like he wasn't the one that lived them.

The memories started to become unclear when he met that twelve-year old Temari and when he came across Gaara, he felt something important went missing. Worst still, Shikamaru realized he could sense that his recollections from his dreams, the ones that included the twenty-six year old Temari were changing in some indefinable way, while the thirty to fortyish Temari were vanishing, shifting to something wholly different. He could feel it—more blanks where he knew something vital happened. "Temari, what is happening?" Shikamaru raised questioning eyes to Temari, her blonde hair interspersed with silver.

"It's going to be alright, Shikamaru." The granny Temari laid an insubstantial kiss on Shikamaru's cheek and then she disappeared.

"No, Temari wait... I can't wake up. I can't wake up. I can't!" But Shikamaru knew it was useless. He was already wide awake.

TBC

~10-31.11-2 10,7 22. 9 5. 9 19 11AF~

A/N: To Effie and Timber, I bet without your reviews I would be procrastinating more...As always thanks for the motivation ~grins~.

MS, your review frustrates me...since I'm using jailbait as the prompt for a drabble, a nice topic for Shika's birthday ~in 3 days~ but the drabble still remains unfinished and unspicy to this day ~panics~

Guys, review? Concrits? Questions?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

But when Shikamaru woke up, a white blanket was covering his face. He suddenly sat on his bed, swivelling his head around. He saw his wife, yes how could he forget his wife that he love so much, her head resting on his bedside, her shoulders shaking. Was she crying? The sounds she was making slumped on the bed suggest so.

He tried to touch her but couldn't. His hand just passed through her like a blurred image.

Frustrated, Shikamaru muttered, "Temari, please don't cry." But it seemed she could not hear him; her forehead still laying on the edge of his bed as her hands grip the sheet tightly, guttural sounds reverberating from her throat.

Shikamaru tried to caress her once more but the same thing happened. Glancing at his hand, panic lacing his voice, he asked, "What the hell is happening?"

"Shikamaru," Temari's voice drifted from the doorway. Shikamaru lifted his head to gaze at Temari, standing by the door. She looked like the one who appeared in his dreams first. But the woman at his bedside, it was also Temari. He recognized that glorious blonde hair but not the sobbing emanating from her. Shikamaru's eyes mirrored his confusion.

"I'm the dead Temari—" the Temari at the door said, "—and she," Temari pointed at the one beside the bed, "is the alive one and hence can never hear you."

"How can you both be here? How can you be alive and dead at the same time?"

"I travelled back for you," Temari admitted, her voice laced with a smile. "You did the same thing for me except you went a lot farther."

"What do you mean?"

Temari walked towards the bed. "I remember when I was twelve years old; I met a man I thought was crazy. He told me that an older version of me visits him in his dreams. I know now that that was you. Back when I was alive I never thought that it was you. See, I saw that man's ID. The name written was Hyuuga Neji. But now, I realized why you did that—to save me. I was supposed to die at twenty eight from the slow-killing virus that I contracted from the lowlife who attacked me when I ran away from home...When I met you that day, you prevented that unpleasant incident from happening since you got me scared enough to go home. I never after that planned on running away. "

"Temari, I—I don't remember."

"Yes, they told me that was the consequence for going so far as you did. Shikamaru, you inhabited someone else's body and because a body couldn't contain two souls at the same time, once you leave that body, the memories you accumulated in that body become scattered. I'll try to help you remember some of it but they said it would be impossible to remember everything."

"I have a hazy memory of coach Naruto being my equal and of a Lee person. I think when I inhabited this Neji person's body I somehow became their friends."

"Don't you remember, Shikamaru? You met my brother Gaara on the baseball team when you were both twelve."

"Yeah, and you were around fourteen-fifteen and very bossy."

"Yes, when you inhabited Neji's body you became one of coach Naruto's closest friends. Because of coach Naruto the number of punks in our neighbourhood decreased. They turned to baseball instead. I always thought that my brother Gaara would be recruited by some gang if not for coach Naruto."

"Temari, that reminds me. That day on the field I convinced coach Naruto to talk to those two kids. I remember because one kid got red hair the same as Gaara...In my dream, you said your brother was being forced by the Akatsuki gang. Those Akatsuki was able to hurt your brother by using you as bait. I couldn't have that. Maybe that red haired punk would have become an Akatsuki gang member if coach Naruto did not talk to him."

"Yes, definitely." Temari smiled.

"Temari, you told me I saved you but how come you still died so young? I thought you're going to grow old like my last vision of you in my dream."

"I did die an old woman, Shikamaru. Unlike you I was able to see our daughter grow and have kids of her own. But I had to travel back to your time otherwise we wouldn't be together. And this is how I appeared like when you died."

"I'm sorry," Shikamaru mumbled.

"Don't be. I always wished to be with you again."

"I remember everything back when I was alive and some when I was in Neji's body. But in that body, when I take a look in the mirror, I see me."

"Yes, you only see what you wanted to see. You have to be stronger than the soul that really owns the body otherwise you will be overthrown. You know this that's why you devised the strategy of having your memories of me visit you at night when the soul of the owner is at its weakest. That way you made sure you'll remember me and that made your soul stronger to fight Neji's come morning. It took you three months to gain the most control of the body. That's why you were able to approach me that day without reverting back to Neji."

Shikamaru took time to assimilate all that he heard. "My memories of you?"

"Yes. You travelled backwards in time since you realized there's no cure for what ails me. You believed that if you could prevent my being sick then I would survive. But you have to make sure something would sustain you, so you gathered your memories of me, lots of it. The memories we made back when we hadn't discovered yet how ill I was. You were drawn to that Temari because they were your actual memories. Memories you had created with me while you were still alive. After you met my twelve year old self, your soul travelled towards the future to verify if you indeed saved me and then your soul watched as I grow older. That's why your memories of me—the ones where I was in my late thirties that visited you in your dreams don't say much about you, you were already dead. You died when I was twenty-eight Shikamaru from a car crash. It would have been just a matter of months before we are re-united again but you discovered a way to prevent my illness and save me and even our daughter because in time she would have AIDS too."

"Temari, I remember the urgency...the need to see you immediately then the screech of tires as I hit the brakes..."

Temari nodded, as she grasped Shikamaru's hands on his lap, standing where the alive Temari remain seated.

After a while, Shikamaru spoke again, "What happened to Neji?"

"Nothing apart from the times that passed by that he had no recollection off, there was no long lasting effect. Well, except for a time he sported a shorter haircut and a stud. And the fact that when I was a teenager, he used to receive evil glares from me if I saw him in one of those baseball games I went to, to watch Gaara and later Gaara and you." Temari chuckled.

"I see."

Temari's lips that had a lift at the corners then became flat. "I still remember the day you died. At that time you thought I was dying because of the virus. With your last breath you said that I can't die that you wouldn't let me. And now you have fulfilled your promise...I sense that I too have forgotten something, probably since the circumstances have changed. But _that_ memory when you made your promise, I want to keep that but I'm sure that in a while it will disappear. I just wanted you to know that I...I feel like I was going to say something important, Shikamaru." Temari raised bewildered eyes.

Shikamaru, reading Temari's confusion, immediately started to notice that her image, her stricken image was losing its clarity. "Temari, what's going on? Come back!"

Temari, with a burst of light, faded as if she was a dream.

Shikamaru, with his back lying on the bed, struggled with the sheets and opened his eyes, sweating as if he just had a nightmare. He glanced at his surrounding noticing the woman soundly sleeping beside him.

He felt like he just lost her.

Gently stroking Temari's cheek with the back of his index finger so as not to wake her; he smiled before finally wrapping his arm around his wife's waist and returning back to his sleep.

It was just a dream. It wasn't real... But before his consciousness gave way to slumber, he realized that when he returned to the past and saved Temari that day, he also saved himself from the car crash. Somehow, a memory remained _for a mere second_ that of him behind the steering wheel, his car running too fast with him preoccupied with his wife's deteriorating health that he didn't notice that the green light had switched to red in a busy intersection.

Fin.

.

~10-31.11-2 10/7 22 11? 9 19 11AF~


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